ADB Targets $5 Billion for ASEAN AI and Digital Economy, Completing $30 Billion Pledge

Kanda announced both initiatives in his address to the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Manila, held alongside the 49th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits. He also signed a new five-year memorandum of understanding with ASEAN that formally designates ADB as the region's main bank.

The new ASEAN Regional Platform for AI and Digital Economy is meant to support implementation of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement. The money will back policy reforms and investment in digital infrastructure, cross-border payment systems, verifiable IDs, cybersecurity and AI readiness. ADB said the aim is to make digital systems across the region work together and make digital trade easier, especially for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The bank will also help governments identify bankable projects, prepare them and mobilise financing.

The second initiative is larger. The ASEAN Resilient Rivers Initiative aims to raise up to $8 billion by 2030 to strengthen water and food security and reduce damage from floods and droughts. It will help countries coordinate investment in modern irrigation systems, flood defences and better water management across river basins.

Both figures are targets for mobilising public and private money, not new ADB loans. The announcement does not say how much will come from ADB's own balance sheet and how much it expects from governments and private investors. It names no specific projects.

"As the region's main bank, ADB has pledged $30 billion to ASEAN to turn ambition into action. We will be judged by what gets built and by whose lives improve," Kanda said.

The $30 billion package also covers initiatives announced earlier: a $6 billion capital markets initiative, a fund to prepare ASEAN Power Grid projects, and financing for healthier seas and coastal economies. Kanda first set out the package in Cebu, in the Philippines, in May.